Any.do was the first to-do list app that I ever heavily relied upon. Initially, it was the app’s minimalist, crisp user interface that won me over. But it was its added features that kept me hooked for over two years.

Free Version

Once signed into Any.do, you can create different lists to help separate your tasks (work, personal, shopping, etc.). For each task within these lists, you can include sub-tasks, notes, due dates, priority status, attachments (limited to 1.5 MB per file), and some very basic features for recurring tasks. If you install the Any.do Chrome extension, you can also add tasks from within Gmail itself.

When you open each list, you’re able to view and sort these tasks in a few different ways. Time View allows you to see the tasks you need to complete today, tomorrow, upcoming, or someday. There’s also a Standard List View, and a Priority List View. If you turn your phone sideways, you can access a Calendar View. It’s these views that really differentiate Any.do from more basic apps like Apple Reminders.

The main differentiator for Any.do, however, is its Moments feature. When you activate Moments (I’d recommend doing this once per day or once per week), you’ll quickly be asked questions about some of your tasks. This kind of gamifies your to-do list, constantly keeping it in order, and building list of tasks that you need to complete today and tomorrow. On the free version, you can use this feature 5 times per month.

Premium Version

When you upgrade to the premium version of Any.do for $3 per month, all restrictions to the free version are removed.

You’re able to share as many lists and tasks as you like with other people (effectively turning Any.do into a project management app). You can completely customize recurring tasks, so they appear every 2 weeks, every 4 months, etc. File upload limits are increased to 100 MB. And you can use Moments as often as you like.

Additionally, you can add location-based tasks and receive a reminder when your GPS detects you’re near a certain location.

Drawbacks

Any.do is a great app to use, but it has a few drawbacks that forced me to start using something else.

There’s no integration with any other apps, hence no possibility for any kind of task automation. I was hoping to add tasks automatically using some IFTTT recipes, but this wasn’t possible. When asked, Any.do did inform me they are working to fix this.

The app can’t interpret natural language. If I want to schedule a task for a specific time by saying “Meet Sam for coffee at 11am tomorrow”, the app wouldn’t schedule that meeting automatically based on the wording of the task.

Free Version

The basic functioning of Todoist is relatively similar to Any.do. You can create different task lists (Projects). Within each list, you can add individual tasks, and then drag and drop these tasks to sort them. Each task can be scheduled (for today, tomorrow, next month, or for a specific date). And if you want to reschedule a task from within the mobile app, just swipe left.

Each task can be given one of four priority settings (where Any.do only offers one). You also have full access to the recurring events features, and can add sub-tasks within each individual task. You can even share each project with a maximum of 5 people, though no file uploads are permitted.

All of this really does help to manage your schedule much more effectively.

Premium Version

If you decide to pay $30 per year for the premium version of Todoist, you’ll be treated to a number of additional features.

You can add reminders to each of your tasks, as well as label them for better sorting. You can send tasks to your Todoist account via email. You can sync your tasks with iCal. You can add location-based tasks.

For each task, you can set a due date — using natural language — including some basic recurring options. These recurring options are better than Any.do’s free recurring options, but nowhere near as impressive as Todoist’s. You can also set reminders (which you can’t do in Todoist’s free package), and events can be starred to mark them as high priority.

If you want to use Todoist as more of a project management app, you can add up to 25 sub-tasks to each individual task. Notes, comments, and files can be added, too. When a list has been shared with another user, up to 25 tasks can be assigned to help you delegate that work.

When it comes to reviewing your tasks, they can be sorted alphabetically, by due date, by creation date, or by priority. If a task is due today, or this week, you can view these as separate lists too. For even more control, you can add hashtags to each of your tasks, then use the search bar in the app to filter your tasks by these hashtags.

Premium Version

For $5 per month, you can unlock the premium version of Wunderlist. Rather than uncovering features for you, the premium version simply removes some restrictions.

In essence, the 5 MB limit on file uploads will be removed, you’ll be able to assign unlimited tasks, and add unlimited sub-tasks to your lists.

Drawbacks

Wunderlist can interpret basic natural language, such as “Call Mary at 1pm tomorrow”. But it’s got nothing on Todoist, which can interpret “Go to the bank every Thursday at 1pm starting in October”.

The user interface is relatively intuitive, but it just seems a lot more old fashioned than the other two options. Compared to the swipe features on mobile within Any.do and Todoist, Wunderlist’s check boxes seem especially clunky.

Although Wunderlist integrates with Zapier, there is no integration (yet) with IFTTT.

If you’re looking for a new app, however, and want something pretty basic, that looks amazing, and is easy to use, the free version of Any.do should be perfect. If you want something with more features, plus integration with other apps (via Zapier), but you don’t want to pay, I’d recommend the free version of Wunderlist.

If you want the full set of features, IFTTT and Zapier integration, and an amazing user interface, splash out and purchase the premium version of Todoist. This is the option I chose after trying out the other two apps over a long period of time, and so far, I have no regrets whatsoever.

Over to you: which to-do list app do you think will fit your requirements? Or are there any others that you think are even better than these?

I'd like seething where sub-tasks have due date ad reminder capability.
Actually, I'd like sub-tasks to behave like tasks and have their own subtasks and on and on.
More of a project management tool maybe.
Any ideas?

I am struggling with a tool right now as I use Outlook and Evernote. Take a look at Asana. They just added a Trello like experience with boards. This is a project management app but I use it as a Task manager and very few limitations. It does not have a robust chrome plugin and no Outlook Plug in but you can email to project you have setup. The user experience of Any.Do and the simplistic ease of adding tasks continues to draw me in. During my evaluation, there were many times where their servers appeared down and I would have to refresh several times.

"Remember the Milk" has subtasks with their own due date and reminders. I've been using it for a few years, and each year before renewing my subscription, I check out the market but have stuck with Remember the Milk. It is super simple to add a task in one line in the app or from an email. Very happy with it. I just need more discipline to do my weekly review, but this is for any GTD tool you use.

Used Any Do in the past. They made some changes that I didn't like. Then I went for Todoist Premium, paid for a year but used only for a few months. That's not my cup of tea. I want something as simple as Any Do but little powerful as Todoist. Something like that.

I have looked at many, but my fav is Asana. And everytime I think of another way I'd like to find a new way of doing things, I look for something, but nothing else comes close. With multiple integrations, calendaring, teams, and email to task or project, google drive or file attachments, there is plenty of features in the free version.

I can't live without GQueues' Smart lists. Hands down, GQueues is the winner - and $25 is nothing to quarrel over, for what you get: ubiquitous capture (a la GTD), subtasks, documents, smart lists, phone, web, etc etc etc. None of these compare with GQueues, and I'm not even paid to say this.

I'm always amazed that reviewers leave out Nozbe as competitors to the aforementioned apps. Nozbe is my choice after suffering through Any.do's lack of features, Todoists horrible note field and Wunderlist's inability to play with Evernote and Dropbox. Nozbe isn't cheap but you really do get what you pay for.

Rob Nightingale has a degree in Philosophy from the University of York, UK. He has worked as a social media manager and consultant for over five years, while giving workshops in several countries. For the past two years, Rob has also been a technology writer, and is MakeUseOf's Social Media…